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'£3,000 store card/credit card must be paid off in full within 30 days of mortgage completion' - it goes on to say that you cannot use further borrowing to pay this e.g. balance transfer.

My question is - how serious is this?

Both my partner and I have various credit cards with low amounts on (combined, less than £3,000).

I just find it odd that it states that it's a singular credit or store card to that amount (which doesn't exist)?

We both have every intention of paying anything outstanding off before we move in - I'm just wondering how serious it is, in the event that we have a couple of hundred pound left to pay off after the 30 days.

Realistically, would they actually evict someone and force them to sell up over this? Or do they even check it? I've seen lots of threads about it but nobody ever says how it turns out!

But is it even a real term if this account doesn't exist anyway?! There's so many holes in it. No names, no accounts, no way of checking within the 30 days...

We have every intention of paying anything we owe ASAP (hopefully the next week or so) - god knows I don't want any debts other than my mortgage! But it just seems like it's a moot point - hence my questions.

But is it even a real term if this account doesn't exist anyway?! There's so many holes in it. No names, no accounts, no way of checking within the 30 days...

We have every intention of paying anything we owe ASAP (hopefully the next week or so) - god knows I don't want any debts other than my mortgage! But it just seems like it's a moot point - hence my questions.

I assume you/broker filled in some kind of side sheet which named each credit card, store card etc one by one and the applicable balance on each. Broadly speaking all of this debt (or £3k of it) was assumed repaid/to be shortly repaid, when considering the amount to lend you.

Broadly speaking the contractual obligation reads "you have to clear 3k of your unsecured debt" it just has not named any of it. Whether you actually clear it and whether they will actually check is up to you to deduce. You have already admitted you have unsecured debt so it would only be a real talking point if you had zero debt and you then found that clause in the TCs.

Like previous posters have suggested, I doubt there is a formal check in place for this. I have heard that random credit checks can be carried out post completion but whether (a) they would do this and (b) actually take any action if they saw the 3k still unpaid remains to be seen.

We are going to pay it - there's no way I want that in the back of my mind, stopping me from enjoying my new home. We can pay it, so we will, and that's fine. It just seemed a very pointless thing, which has made my partner and I realise we may have to cut down over the next month (baked beans for tea it is!)

I just thought I'd drop an update - we have happily paid off any outstanding debts so I am unable to update future posters on whether or not Woolwich typically follows up on this kind of term! Thanks for all advice given and apologies to any offence I may have caused to the many mortgage brokers who replied to this unfavorably... It's all new to me so I was just asking a theoretical question out of curiosity.

I think that is a very generic clause mortgage company's use for those that have outstanding debt. I have the same clause in my offer. Whilst I may not be able to pay all of my outstanding debt off, I intend to pay at least as much as I can till when I complete.

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